"Jean B." wrote in message
...

To the first, oh sigh. I'd better not get my hopes up. I thought I had
read that Japanese maple seeds did not guarantee a tree like the parent.

I read that too, but the lady doing the presentation said that was not true.
Anyway, the seedling that I collected around the tree this past spring are
now about 4" tall and have the same wine-red leaf color as the parent tree.
Another seedling from that tree that I gave to a neighbor two years ago is
now about three feet tall and I would have difficulty distinguishing it from
the parent as for as leaf color and growing habits go. Perhaps this is
working because I only have two maples in the yard and both are bloodgoods.
At least one of my trees would lend itself to layering, since it has low
branches. Or are you doing air layering? I have such a black thumb--but
I would love to propagate some of my maples.

No, I am no air layering. I removed the mulch until I reached soil
underneath, dug a shallow trench, scraped the bottom of the branch where is
came in contact with the soil (The irritation seems to promote rooting.),
covered the bottom of the branch with soil, replaced the mulch, and anchored
the branch with a rock. Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

JPS


Thanks,

Jean B.